


Rational Thought and Human Empathy

by boxoftheskyking



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, Lydia and Danny are buds forever, Surprise Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 13:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxoftheskyking/pseuds/boxoftheskyking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia and Danny meet Laura Hale in the years Before.</p>
<p>Danny had a habit of pulling on the neck of Lydia’s shirts to get her attention. It drove her crazy, because she didn’t like to be distracted, and when Danny wanted her attention it was usually because he wanted her to solve a problem. Usually a problem for somebody else. For free. Even in the third grade, she knew better than to do something for nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rational Thought and Human Empathy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [homoeroticismforthewin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/homoeroticismforthewin/gifts).



> Written (so, so, so late, I'm so sorry!) for the fabulous homoeroticismforthewin, as a part of the Sterek Campaign Charity Auction! Thank you for helping wolves!   
> Pretty much everything that could go wrong in the creation of this fic did, including losing a draft to computer thieves. So it's not polished or perfect, but there you go. I hope you like it!

Danny had a habit of pulling on the neck of Lydia’s shirts to get her attention. It drove her crazy, because she didn’t like to be distracted, and when Danny wanted her attention it was usually because he wanted her to  _solve a problem._  Usually a problem for somebody else. For free. Even in the third grade, she knew better than to do something for nothing. Look how the Stiles thing turned out. When Stiles got his 100%-guaranteed-accurate-scale-replica Millennium Falcon stuck up a tree, Danny had to help. Of course he did. Of course he needed Lydia to get involved, and when Stiles offered all his Fruit-by-the-Foots for a week, Danny just said, “No, Stiles, that’s okay. We just wanted to help you out, because we like you.”

Which is all very well for Danny to say, because Danny legitimately likes everybody. But you can’t just  _say_  that to a kid like Stiles, Lydia  _knows_ better than that, but this was before Danny figured out that  _Lydia is always right_. So Stiles has been in love with the pair of them ever since. And it grates on Lydia’s very last nerve, it really does. 

(To be quite honest, Lydia was never sure which nerve was her very last nerve. Her mother said that a lot, about her father. And Lydia herself, sometimes. The way she laughed at cartoons, apparently, grated on her mother’s very last nerve. She’d been working on it, the laughing. Covering her mouth when she smiled and biting the inside of her cheek so she didn’t make any noise. Fake laughter was okay, though, when someone did something stupid. Laughing to be mean was okay. Her mother did that a lot. The nerve thing, though, that never stopped being confusing. She understood the nervous system, she had a library card, you know, she had the internet. She just hadn’t located the  _last_ one, yet. So she can stop grating on it. For her mother. As a favor.)

So that was problem one. If she paid attention to Danny, she had to solve problems. But if she didn’t, he’d just keep pulling, and her shirts would get stretched out.

He was pulling now, and Lydia was concentrating on the wool at her neck, seeing how long she had before she absolutely  _had_ to turn around and tell him to knock it off.

“Lydia!” he hissed in her ear, insistent. “That girl is crying. She doesn’t want anybody to see it, but she is. We’ve got to  _do_  something.”

The girl looked like she was in college, maybe, though she might have still been in high school. She was at that age that’s technically not a “girl,” like their babysitters or older cousins. But their parents would say “girl,” so that’s what she was. And crying made her look younger. She was sitting at the picnic table on the other side of the sidewalk, directly in front of their favorite bench. She had her forehead propped on one hand, pretending to read a book. Lydia watched for a second, but didn’t move.

Danny actually stamped his foot, which is something people do in soap operas, not in real life. Lydia sighed, a deep, world-weary thing, and marched over to the picnic table.

“Hi. I’m Lydia, this is Danny. What’s wrong?”

The girls started, wiped her nose, and blinked at them to clear her eyes. “Sorry?”

“You don’t have to apologize, I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong!” Danny chirped from her other side. She jumped again and stared between them like a cornered animal.

“Sorry, what?”

“Look. You’re sitting out here where the little kids are, pretending to read what is obviously a datebook - I bet that’s really engaging stuff.”

“I-“

“What’s wrong? With you, I mean, not with the world in general. We already know that.”

The girl gave a sniffling little laugh. “You know already know what’s wrong with the world in general?”

“Well, yes,” Lydia said, itching her nose. 

“How old are you?”

“We’re eight. So now you’re going to disregard everything we say because we’re just little kids.”

“No, I—”

“It’s okay,” Danny piped up. “Everybody does. We’re used to it.”

“The problem with the world in general,” Lydia interrupted, trying to glare his smile down to something manageable, “is a lack of rational thought and human empathy.”

The girl blinked down at them, then tilted her head to the side with a scrunched-up frown. 

“She’s Rational Thought,” Danny said proudly, coming around to her other side to sling his arm around Lydia’s shoulders. “I’m Human Empathy.”

“Okay.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, the girl’s fingers flipping through her datebook, toes tapping. Lydia let her fidget for a few more seconds before sighing hugely.

“This is the part where you tell us what’s wrong and then we fix it.” She crossed her arms and popped her hip like her mother did.  Her mother did it a lot, and sucked on her teeth, before saying things that stung Lydia’s eyes like smoke or like lemon juice. They were never  _mean_  things, not really, just— They weren’t nice, either. Lydia tried to do it like her, because people listened to her mother, but she didn’t really have hips, yet, not woman’s hips, anyway. She was still kind of boyish, slim and wiry and growing an inch every month. No wonder the girl laughed at her.

“Sorry, guys. I don’t think it’s something you can fix.”

“Try us,” Danny said, and it was his big earnest puppy eyes that won her over. Lydia kind of resented him for that, because people always  _wanted_  to tell Danny things. Danny looked like a baby angel, everyone said it. Lydia just kind of looked like a girl. She had to work really hard to get people to talk. Threats were usually involved. (Except with Stiles. Stiles loved her even if she wasn’t as pretty as Danny. But Stiles was smart, any idiot could see that.)

“Well,” the girl started, and the kids crawled onto the bench across from her. “I have magical powers, and I’m afraid that they may be evil. I must learn to control them in order to save the world, otherwise the whole town of Beacon Hills may be in terrible danger.”

Lydia sighed and made to get up, stopped by Danny’s hand on her sleeve. 

“Shh, Lydia,” he whispered. “She might be crazy. Crazy people need help, too.”

The girls snorted. “Fine. Don’t believe me.”

Lydia glared at her. She rubbed her eyes and groaned into her hands. “Really, it’s okay. I’m just tired. It’s just personal stuff. Family stuff. Everybody gets overwhelmed every now and then; it’s normal.”

“Are you unsatisfied with your career?” Lydia asked.

“Well, I’m a waitress. So, yeah.”

Lydia lifted an eyebrow at Danny, who widened his eyes.

“We could help you look for jobs! I’m really good at that; my uncle didn’t have a job for a really long time, but then I heard some guys at the hardware store say that some other guy was moving away, and then I made my uncle - well, I didn’t  _make_ him; I don’t  _make_  people do things, that’s rude - but my uncle went in and then he got a job and now he has his own car instead of borrowing my dad’s car and he has a dog and everything, that he adopted from Dr. Deaton, and an apartment with a porch. And stuff.”

The girl was smiling by the time he was done, so he sat back, satisfied. 

“That sounds great, Danny,” she said, reaching across the table to pat his shoulder. It was awkward, like she didn’t pat people’s shoulders very often.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Laura.”

 The sat for a moment in silence, Laura looking over the park, watching a flock of geese overhead.

“The problem’s my brother.”

The kids lean in to listen, identical serious expressions on their faces.

“He’s turning fifteen - he’s the next oldest after me. We used to be really close; we did everything together. And he just— He doesn’t really talk to me anymore.”

“Well, that’s teenagers for you.” Lydia gave her a solemn nod, clucking her tongue disapprovingly. “All hormones and acne, minimal brainpower.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“My mother. She has some interns who work for her, and they’re in high school, and let me tell you. Ugh.”

Laura laughed, which made Lydia wrinkle up her nose.

“No, I’m not laughing at you. I kind of agree. I think. I’m just worried that he might be hanging with a bad crowd. I keep asking my uncle— Derek and him are really close, I think Derek tells him everything. I keep asking if something’s wrong, and he keeps saying, ‘He’s a young man, he needs space to make his own mistakes.’ I know there’s a girl, or a couple of girls, maybe? Some girl that he likes. Which is fine, I guess. But he’s kind of— He’s not a tough kid. Not really. He’s a sweet guy, and if someone’s going to take advantage of him, you know, break his heart, I want to know about it.”

“So you can help him through it,” Danny said, nodding.

“So you can get revenge,” Lydia countered.

“Both, maybe.”

Lydia looked down at the green rubber mesh of the tabletop, hooking her skinny fingers through the holes. There had to be a solution; there always was. She didn’t have any brothers, but she had Danny. Danny was a sweet guy, and she could imagine somebody using that against him. The idea made her blood boil, or she imagined that it did. If someone hurt Danny, especially if they did it on purpose, she would be on fire underneath her skin until they paid for it. 

This gave her an idea.

“Okay, we’ll show you what to do. Danny, you be— What’s his name?”

“My brother? Derek.”

“Wait, Derek Hale? Aaron’s big brother?” Danny perked up, getting up on his knees on the bench. “I really like Aaron a lot! We play baseball together! You’re his big sister, aren’t you?”

“Yeah! I thought you looked familiar.”

“This is all beside the point,” Lydia snapped. “Danny, you be Derek. I’ll be Laura. Okay. Derek, how was school today?”

“Oh, it was great! We’re reading a book about a kid who’s a detective, and I really liked the part where—”

“Danny, I’m not asking  _you_ , I’m asking  _Derek_. They don’t read books about detectives in high school. You’re acting, remember?”

“Right. Um. School was good. We did algorithms and … and dissected some … pigs. It was  … righteous. And most excellent.”

“Okay.” Lydia gritted her teeth and Laura chewed on a knuckle to keep from laughing. “So, Derek, our uncle tells me that there’s a girl that you like.”

“Um.” Danny widened his eyes, looking to Lydia for a cue. She gave a tiny head shake. “I don’t want to talk about it. Jeez, Ly- Laura. I’m a grownup and it’s not any of your business if I like girls.” He giggled into his elbow, then looked up meekly under Lydia’s withering stare.

“Look, Derek. I’m older than you, and I know more about girls than you do. I am a girl, so I know pretty much everything that there is to know about girls. It is ridiculous that you haven’t come to me for advice already, and I expect you to start talking. Now.”

“I’m not sure if that—” Laura started, but Lydia silenced her with an imperiously raised finger.

“Basically, Derek, if you expect to get anywhere in life, you need to learn how to ask for help. That’s a sign of maturity. I am going to sit here and wait for you to tell me about this girl, and then you and I are going to come up with a strategy to deal with her.”

“Lydia.”

“ _Derek_.”

“No, Lydia, I’m Danny talking to you. ‘Deal with her’ sounds like you’re going to  _kill her_.” He covered his mouth with a scandalized little laugh.

“A person has to do what a person has to do,” Lydia said solemnly, picking at the tabletop.

Laura burst out laughing. “Okay, so I’m going to sit my little brother down and tell him how I’m going to kill his girlfriend. Got it.”

“You’re simplifying on purpose so you can laugh at me,” Lydia pouted.

“Listen. Thanks for the advice. You’re right, if I say I want to help him get the girl, then I won’t seem nosy. Or, I don’t know, controlling.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being nosy. People being nosy is the only way anything gets done in the world. Read a history book.”

“Okay. I’ll trust your judgement.” 

Lydia made another tick mark on her mental list of Times Lydia Is Right and Grownups Don’t Take Her Seriously.  

“Do you feel better?” Danny asked, and if he had a tail, it would almost certainly be wagging.

“Yes, Danny. I feel better.”

“You won’t cry anymore?”

“I wasn’t cry—”

“Oh please,” Lydia waved off her protests.

“I won’t cry anymore. I should go pick Aaron up at piano lessons.”

“Wow, he plays piano? That’s so cool. Aaron is so cool.”

Laura gave him a little sideways smile. “Why don’t you come over to play sometime? I bet he’d really like that.”

“Really? He’d like to hang out with me? But he’s so  _cool_.”

Lydia rolled her eyes and got up from the bench. 

“We’ll see you at the next baseball game. I expect a full report on the Derek Situation. Come on, Danny.”

They gave Laura a little wave goodbye and left her at the table, shaking her head bemusedly. 

They saw her at the ball game, but Morrie Greenberg had lost a pair of tennis shoes that they needed to get back. And then Callie Hoffman was spreading rumors about the Xiong sisters, so that needed to be shut down. And Stiles kept losing priceless comics or getting his socks stuck in the tree branches outside his bedroom window (which was complete baloney and everyone knew it. Stiles had been climbing that tree since he could walk). They’d say hi to Laura when they saw her, but there was always something else that took priority. And then fourth grade turned into fifth and Lydia started to look more like a girl and Danny kissed Aaron Hale on a school trip to the pumpkin patch, and then they were in middle school and they met Jackson and all the rules changed.

And then the Hales were gone. No one really knew how or why, but one day Lydia’s babysitter sat her down and said, “Honey, do you remember the family that lived out in the woods? The Hales? Something very bad happened last night,” and Lydia almost threw up. She smelled smoke for days. Danny didn’t smile for two weeks, and when they were by themselves, out by the river, he said he missed Aaron and he never got to give him his Harry Potter books back. And then he cried into her sweater, twitchy fingers twisted in the cloth, stretching it out. It was never the same after that, the cashmere all lopsided and worn. Her mother yelled at her about being careful with her nice things. She never wore it again.


End file.
